Westminster Social Policy forum today 'Next steps for transgender Equality' #WSPFEvents

[R0wantrees]

Next steps for transgender equality - inclusion, rights and services

There are some influential and interesting speakers at this conference which can be followed via twitter using #WSPFEvents.

The event is covering many of the issues discussed here including media, schools, prisons, health, policy & legislation etc

Nic Williams from Fairplay4women is amongst those tweeting: twitter.com/AskNic

Background:
"This timely seminar will consider policy priorities for transgender equality.

In the context of Brexit and uncertainty around the future of current equality legislation such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, delegates will discuss the current landscape of transgender equality.

Attendees will also discuss priorities for transgender physical and mental health, in the context of Government proposals to streamline and de-medicalise the process for changing gender, the NHS England consultation on how Gender Identity Clinics will deliver specialised outpatient services and how surgical units will deliver surgical interventions, and reports that some transgender people are waiting over two years for an initial consultation with an NHS Gender Identity Clinic.

Further sessions focus on key issues for transgender equality in the workplace and how employers can support transition, tackling issues in the criminal justice system and how schools and universities can create inclusive environments, as well as transgender coverage and representation in the media."

www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/conference/transgender-equality-2018

So we just have the Mail journalist on the case? This authoritarianism needs a wider audience.

It's a scandal, people being forced to believe what nobody believes, it's like Henry VIII all over again, forcing his new religion on everyone, so he can extend his Emperor powers and beliefs on others for his own agenda.

Well they'll know it's over. Bex Stinson was asked how they got Scotland to cave so quickly and said it was because they had private conversation in private rooms with the people who provide services, not people who use them. I mean, that's how brazen and confident they were, to come out and say that and not think there's anything bad about it. That is over. Women are watching.

Bex Stinson was asked how they got Scotland to cave so quickly and said it was because they had private conversation in private rooms with the people who provide services, not people who use them. I mean, that's how brazen and confident they were, to come out and say that and not think there's anything bad about it.

That defied belief, didn't it?

Services aren't about their users, particularly if those users are women.

How much more brazen can you be?

Bex Stinson was asked how they got Scotland to cave so quickly and said it was because they had private conversation in private rooms with the people who provide services, not people who use them

Recent Herald article

'Schools 'forget' girls in rush to adopt pro-trans guidance campaigners claim as Christian group threatens legal action'

"THE rights of Scottish schoolgirls are being undermined by rules allowing pupils to adopt a different gender and share changing rooms, it has been claimed, as it emerged schools are unprepared for the controversial overhaul.

A series of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests have revealed that councils have widely backed guidelines produced by organisations campaigning for the rights of transgender people but have not considered how the new approach will affect children – particularly girls.

The new guidelines tell teachers that if a transgender pupil wishes to share a changing room with "other young people who share their gender identity," they should be allowed to do so.

"There is no reason for parents or carers of the other pupils to be informed," it adds.

The guidelines say young people should be able to compete in the sports events for the gender they identify with, and says if other pupils are uncomfortable using changing rooms or toilets with transgender pupils, they should use other facilities or wait until the transgender pupil is done.

However none of the councils involved, nor the children’s commissioner, nor Education Scotland have carried out an equality impact assessment to ensure the rights and wellbeing of other pupils are unaffected. This means the impact on other students has not been taken into account. (continues)

www.heraldscotland.com/news/16311379.schools-forget-girls-in-rush-to-adopt-pro-trans-guidance-campaigners-claim-as-christian-group-threatens-legal-action/

Wow that redacted intro! Who the fuck do these people think they are?

well...

Every time I think I've peaked another thing happens. That Ben Stinson comment is terrifying. The service users should always be foremost in the considerations of provision.

If any of you just heard a bang and yelp, it was me peaking again so hard I hit my head on the ceiling....

One of Ollie Entwistle's previous posts was senior programme manager for HS2 - he must enjoy controversy!

Palmer advocated children explore their gender with drugs and surgery.
Someone must have told him how creepy that was because his speech was redacted at his request.

Yes, he also said more referrals to gender clinics are a good thing and the fact the referrals are younger is a good thing.

Don't know if he actually thinks as a neurosurgeon that a brain can be the wrong sex. Because that would be weird.

Telegraph article following the event:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/04/nearly-two-million-britons-expected-question-gender-health-boss/amp/

(extract)
"Speaking at a conference on Monday Mr Palmer said that the expansion and improvement of NHS services could cause the growth in demand to "accelerate".

"We've got to be prepared to start thinking about designing a healthcare service that will allow somewhere around one to three per cent of the population at some point in their lives having a discussion about their gender," he said.

Based on current population estimates, this would mean 1.97m people in the UK using gender identity services, with around 1.6m of these living in England.

He told the audience that "referrals to adult services have increased by 240 per cent over the last five year period.

"There are currently 7,500 adults waiting for an appointment with our services. No other specialist service has seen this growth, anywhere near. As a result there is absolutely not sufficient capacity in the system," he warned.

However Mr Palmer, a former consultant neurosurgeon, also said he believed the growth was "a good thing".

"It's got to be a good thing is that there are people out there that want to explore their gender. The fact that it's in the younger age group has got to be a good thing.

"For a young adult, to be able to come forward, to seek that expertise, earlier [rather] than much much later in life, that's got to be a good thing," he said." (continues)

Wow I hadn't seen that. Just posted on another thread that Polly Carmichael says it's easy for teens to get a trans diagnosis because they just go online to find out what to say.

The redaction of his words is a good thing. It shows that - at last - being a pro-trans advocate can be embarrassing. He wants to dissociate himself.

Well this is it. Yes let's make sure they cannot lurk in the shadows, away from 'media intrusion', ever again.

Pratchet
There was a big reaction against Dr Polly Carmichael's speech and comments during the conference. It could be seen whilst following the #WSPFEvents.
Some interesting comments by prominant folk.

I'm getting the impression TRA have started to see her as an enemy?

I think there's definitely some prominant voices who are challenging the Tavistock approach

This was described in James Kirkup's article,
(extract)
"There is regular dialogue between Mermaids and the GIDS, but the two sides do not always agree. An example is on the time the GIDS team take to give referred children the hormone-blocking drugs that stop their bodies developing the physical characteristics associated with their birth sex.

In evidence to another Commons inquiry in 2015, Mermaids argued that GIDS should make such drugs available much more quickly. The GIDS team has generally resisted that call, more than once saying that “any decision around hormone treatment needs time and considered thought.”

And in evidence to that earlier committee, Dr Bernadette Wren of the GIDS said this:

“I know that Susie and Mermaids would like a fast track so that young people who are already well into puberty and feel that they know that they want to move forward into physical intervention would bypass our assessment process and move straight into physical intervention. We feel that is not an ethical way to practise.”

Here’s another summary. A transgender charity that says it is engaged in lobbying lobbied politicians and doctors to change the way children are treated by doctors. The doctors declined to make that change because it would be not be ethical to do so... "(continues)

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/05/why-are-some-mps-trying-to-shut-down-the-transgender-debate/

THere has also been increasing pressure to implement policies which may provide altenative pathways. The focus seems to be on the waiting time to see GIDs (also highlighted is the travel time & cost)

This was evident in a recent World at One segment with both Dr Polly Carmichael and a very concerned parent (who I think may be involved with Mermaids)

thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3229756-Transgender-child-on-R4-World-at-One

See also this thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3228409-DM-Article-NHS-sex-change-drugs-are-putting-hundreds-of-children-at-risk-each-year-warns-top-doctor?

Thank you for those links, Rowan

There's quite a lot in this thread Pratchet which may be of interest:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3249035-Stephen-Whittle-s-blog-on-Genderquake-with-a-detailed-briefing-for-panelists

Fairplay for Women
twitter.com/fairplaywomen/status/1004309925022093312

NB Bex Stinson is head of trans inclusion at Stonewall www.stonewall.org.uk/people/bex-stinson

'Entered conversations with the services, not with the people about the services'

Thanks for the link to the Whittle thread too 👍

Thanks to the women who went and are reporting on this.
Out-fucking-rageous...

see also:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3250175-Girl-Guides-Panel-discussion-at-Speakers-house-woman-male-woman-male-male-male